xp_logs | Moira and Nathan, Monday morning

After arriving back from Iceland, Moira finds Nathan back in their suite. The two of them talk a little about what happened to her in Iceland, Moira lets slip that she collapsed on Saturday during the incident at Columbia, and they both realize that they're not awake or alert enough to deal with anything at the moment.

Quickly, Moira made her way up the stairs to the teacher's floor, concern edging her past her exhaustion. Upon arriving back at the Mansion, she'd looked for Nathan, both to check up on him and to seek some comfort as well. The ordeal of what she and Madelyn had gone through had been odd at best and intensly nerve wracking in other way. But Nathan had been nowhere to be found. Reaching their room, she shoved open the door. "Nathan?"

Domino, curled up on the couch under a blanket, blinked and looked up at Moira. "Hi," she said wearily, sitting up. She gestured with her good arm at the closed bedroom door. "In there. I think he made a break for it yesterday afternoon or something... Henry wasn't all that happy but he let him stay up here. Just told me to watch to make sure he didn't start coughing again. Which he didn't." Domino rubbed her eyes, then looked harder at Moira. "You okay?"

"I'd say "aye" but ye'd see through th' bullshit," she replied, shucking off her jacket and letting it puddle on the floor around her feet. Her head screamed in pain, the headache a mix of the leftover migraine from the backlash on Saturday and the newer incident, and she knew she was paler than normal.

"Do you want me to stay? Keep an eye on both of you?" Domino gave her a somewhat lopsided smile. "I mean, I'm good on the couch, really..."

"Ye can stay, I dinnae mind." Moira smiled at her and, as she passed, reached out to squeeze her shoulder a bit. "Look ta comfortable for me ta kick ye off anyway." Reaching the door, she pushed it open. "Nathan?"

Moira's voice. Nathan blinked up at the ceiling, raising his good hand to rub his eyes. "Hey," he rasped, then realized he'd drifted off with the folder of Arabic marking clasped to his chest like some kind of security blanket. "What... what time... are you okay?"

"Morning. I think." Quietly, she shut the door behind her, nudged off her shoes and padded towards the bed. "Dom told me you got out o' th' MedLab?"

She'd avoided his question, he thought foggily, trying to put the folder on the bedside table. It hit the floor instead, and he sighed and left it there, sagging back against the pillows. "Yeah.... didn't need to be there. Iceland... what happened?"

"Chaos." It was a truthful answer. Moira wanted to make sure he was okay before letting him know what happened to them over there. Sitting next to him, she felt his forehead. "So ye decided all by yerself tha' ye dinnae need ta be in there, eh?"

"Wasn't coughing anymore." Damn, his voice was still awful. "The rest... had worse than this and kept fighting. Didn't need to be down there."

"Well, yer nay fightin' anymore," Moira reminded him, resisting the urge to shake him. It would only harm him. And besides, she was so tired.

"You need to sleep. Can see it. Lie down?" Something was wrong, but he had so little energy... he could hold her, though. With the one arm, at least.

Sighing, she nodded. Not bothering to get changed, Moira shifted and slide in next to him, being careful of his injuries. The shifting jostled her head and she closed her eyes, trying to will the headache to go away.

Something had been wrong with the link before, Nathan remembered a bit fuzzily. It had hurt her, and he didn't want to do anything to hurt her... he let down his fragile shields a little, let her thoughts come to him on a general level instead of through the link.

What he saw was... unbelievable. Nathan stiffened a little, his mind spinning with the images that he saw in her thoughts. "~Oh, love,~" he murmured unthinkingly in Askani.

Snuggling closer, Moira tried to force herself to relax. She felt the link open up and was grateful the pain was starting to go away. "Well, now I 'ave a better perspective I suppose," she joked, knowing it was forced.

"Are you..." Asking her if she was okay was stupid, Nathan thought, trying to pull himself together a little more. #It wasn't... not an unmixed blessing, was it?# he whispered telepathically, as delicately as he could.

#I couldna...create. Imagination jus' went away. For a while, thought it was wort' it but...I couldnae."

He tried to think of Moira without creativity, without that astounding combination of intuition and problem-solving genius that made her such a fearsome intellect. The picture just... wasn't forming. He didn't think it was the concussion's fault, either.

#Power, and a power like that - # He could see it in her mind, the ability to provide the necessities of life for anyone and everyone, and felt how deeply it had appealed to her. # - but you lose something so important in return? Sounds like a deal with the devil or something... one you didn't even get to make consciously.#

#One minute normal, th' next minute so verra different. Much easier than it was supposed ta be if'n I manifested, I suppose.# Her head pounded again and she pressed her head into his shoulder.

#Can't sort it through now,# he sent. #You need to sleep...# More of her thoughts drifted down the link and he tensed a little. #You... passed out yesterday? Saturday, I mean...#

Moira stiffened and cursed silently. "I wanted ta tell ye later," she muttered, miffed at herself. "But, aye, th' backlash when everythin' first started an' then th' link was cut off..."

Nathan tried to think. #Shock of the explosion, maybe. Then my powers getting scrambled like that...# His jaw clenched a little, his good arm tightening around her protectively.

#I'm okay,# Moira tried to reassure him. #Wanted ta tell ye when ye were feelin' better.# She gave him a look. #Afraid ye'd beat yerself up over it.#

#I... won't,# Nathan thought after a moment, the reassurance feeling... odd. #So long... so long as you're okay. Since I didn't kill you...# He didn't mean to project that last comment, but it slipped across the link anyway.

At that, Moira forced herself out of his arms to look down at him. "Stop tha'."

#Stop... # He blinked up at her for a moment. #You should sleep,# he sent more steadily. #We can talk more about Iceland in the morning... or later. You said it was morning?#

"We were nay talkin' 'bout Iceland." She closed her eyes for a second, some of Nathan's thoughts were leaking through. "Talkin' 'bout ye an' ye stop beatin' up on yerself."

#I'm not.# He'd killed forty-six people. It was pretty simple, really. If there was one thing he'd managed to come to terms with, sitting alone in the room for all these hours, it was that. Forty-six was a number, and you didn't argue with numbers. #Please, try and sleep...?# he sent almost pleadingly. #You look so tired...#

"I am tired but..." A swell of sadness and helplesness hit her. "Nothin' I say is goin' ta make a difference, is it?"

He was upsetting her. He was upsetting her, and he ought to do something, or stop doing something, but he... #It'll... be okay.#

"Will it?" she asked, putting her head in her hands. "Ye 'ear me but ye dinnae 'ear me an' until ye do...will it?"

#Moira.... you need to sleep,# he sent weakly, trying to tug her back downwards. #Later. After you sleep. We'll talk more.#

#Promise?#

#Promise...#